Tonight the City of Melbourne has passed a motion at its meeting to issue a notice of default of the Licence issued to Floating Spaces Pty Ltd, trading as ATET, under the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978, in accordance with the terms of clause 4.1 of the Licence.

This motion has been passed following an unprecedented number of community complaints about ATET, and the fact that the complaints have not been able to be resolved in a way that meets our community’s expectations.

EPA investigation

Council has also taken this step following preliminary findings from the Environment Protection Authority’s investigation into noise pollution caused by ATET.

The EPA’s preliminary findings indicate that ATET has consistently exceeded reasonable noise levels in Victoria Harbour and is therefore not complying with the conditions of its planning permit. This means it is breaching the conditions of its operating licence. 

As a result of these preliminary findings, Council has taken the decision to issue ATET with a notice of default on its licence to operate in Victoria Harbour. 

It is important to note that Council has been using the EPA guidelines to test noise levels and has consistently found that ATET is compliant. In their own investigation, the EPA has been able to use noise scientists with more sophisticated equipment, has had access to people’s homes, and monitored this noise consistently over much longer periods.

This raises a range of issues for councils to consider as they monitor noise in their municipalities using guidelines set by the EPA.

Next steps

Council has issued ATET with a notice of default, on the basis that it has breached the conditions of its planning permit.

The operators of ATET will be provided an opportunity to be heard in response to the notice, indicating how they intend to comply with the conditions of their planning permit. 

On the advice that we have received from the EPA, we expect this to mean that ATET must permanently reduce the music in the venue to a ‘background’ level, or make significant changes to the barge and operating model.

After ATET responds to the notice of default, our Council officers will consider again whether we believe that compliance can be achieved in a reasonable timeframe. If we don’t think it’s possible or practical for ATET to meet the EPA’s protocol, City of Melbourne management can cancel the licence. 

City of Melbourne will request that the EPA continue to monitor ATET’s operation to ensure that it complies with conditions resulting from this investigation.